Israeli Air Force F-15I Fighter (Information)
Close-up of Israeli Air Force F-15I fighter (data)
On September 16th, influential media such as The Times of Britain, Washington post of the United States, the Jerusalem Post of Israel and Newsweek of the United States all reported a heavy news: On September 6th, the Israeli air force penetrated more than 100 kilometers into Syria’s territory, and lightning raided Syria’s "nuclear arsenal", killing "foreign nuclear experts" and repeating the scene of bombing Baghdad’s nuclear reactor in 1981.
Lightning strikes the heart of Syria
On the night of September 6th, there was no moonlight. Eighteen F-15i fighters from the 69th fighter squadron of the Israeli Air Force ghostly crossed the border and flew very low along the Syrian coastline. The powerful Syrian radar and missile forces were silent, unaware that Israeli warplanes were heading for the "Agricultural Research Center of the Euphrates River" within 100 kilometers of Syria. At this time, the members of Shaldag commando, the elite special warfare unit of the Israeli Air Force that sneaked into the vicinity of the target one day in advance, have already taken their positions, and they will use laser beams to indicate the bombing target for Israeli warplanes. Not long after, the "Agricultural Research Center of Euphrates River" became a sea of fire!
Ten days later, on September 16th, Israeli Prime Minister Olmert finally spoke: "Our agents and the officers and men of the IDF showed extraordinary courage. We generally don’t show our trump cards easily! "
The Syrian government is silent about the target of the bombing. "I can’t disclose details," Syrian Vice President Al-Shara said. "But what I want to say is that the military and political decision-makers in Syria are considering a series of reactions to be made, and the results will be seen soon." Shara ‘a said that what was blown up by the Israeli air force was all kinds of weapons of Hezbollah militia seized by the Syrian army.
Amazing "truth": Is the nuclear arsenal being terminated?
Andrew Samuel, a senior official in the State Council, USA, surprisingly told a reporter in The Sunday Times that the Israeli Air Force bombed Syria’s "nuclear weapons warehouse" because Syria "may have" obtained nuclear weapons equipment from "secret suppliers" and there were "many foreign experts" in Syria. The Sunday Times reporter asked, does "foreign experts" refer to "Koreans"? Andrew replied: "There is no doubt that it is a Korean."
An American expert on the Middle East who claimed to have exchanged views with the Israelis who participated in the air raid revealed to Washington post on September 15th that a North Korean cargo ship carrying "cement" arrived at the Syrian port three days before the air raid. The "cement" on board was quickly sent to the underground warehouse of the "Euphrates River Agricultural Research Center" by the heavily guarded Syrian army.
Israel has always suspected that this underground warehouse is a top secret laboratory for Syria to secretly extract enriched uranium. Former US Assistant Secretary of State Bolton, who is in charge of arms control, said as early as 2004 that the "nuclear customers" of Pakistan and North Korea include Iran, Libya and Syria. Bolton even said last week: "I have always been worried about the cooperation between North Korea and Syria on nuclear weapons." The CIA once submitted a secret report to Congress, saying, "Syria’s nuclear weapons intentions are becoming more and more obvious and deserve attention."
Diplomats who have been tracking North Korean affairs also said that from time to time, "Middle Eastern businessmen" were seen taking trains from Pyongyang and then turning back to Syria.
On August 14th this year, the DPRK Foreign Minister went to Syria to sign the "Science and Technology Cooperation Agreement", but the two sides did not disclose the specific situation.
However, Israel suspects that Syria has purchased 60-120 Scud-C missiles from North Korea in the past 15 years, and North Korean technical experts went to Syria to help it improve its range, so that the range of these missiles can be increased to 300 kilometers.
What Israel is most worried about is that once these extended-range missiles are equipped with nuclear warheads, then Israel will have an "existential threat." Therefore, Israel will never allow Syria to possess any nuclear capability.
Planning autumn action in spring
The insider revealed to the Jerusalem Post reporter that from the end of this spring, Israel began to make all kinds of preparations before the air strike, because at this time, Meir Dagan, the leader of Israel’s Mossad, had submitted to Prime Minister Olmert "conclusive evidence" that Syria "sought to buy nuclear weapons and equipment from North Korea".
In June this year, the Israeli spy satellite Ofek 7 was launched. After the satellite was launched, its monitoring focus shifted from Iran to Syria, and the latest photos of the "Agricultural Research Center of the Euphrates River" were sent back to Israeli intelligence agencies every 90 minutes, and were handed over to the Air Force for specific research.
In the early summer of this year, Israeli Defense Minister Barak ordered the number of Israeli troops in the Golan Heights bordering Syria to triple, mainly for fear that Syria might strike back at Israel quickly after the air strikes.
In August this year, Russian Ambassador to Syria Sergei Kirpichenko warned Syrian President Assad that Israel was secretly planning a military strike against Syria, and the target should be the Golan Heights! Syria immediately sent a large number of special forces to Mount Herman in the Golan Heights. The relationship between the two sides immediately became tense, and the outside world did not know why.
Israeli Defense Minister Barak worried that the situation was out of control and destroyed the air strike plan, so he quickly reduced the Israeli troops stationed in the Golan Heights and told Syria that the tension between the two sides was over. Syria slowly relaxed, and at this time, Israel’s air strikes were imminent!
Only three people know the super secret.
An American government official who did not want to be named told Newsweek that one day at the end of August, Israelis suddenly came to Washington with a bunch of photos taken by spy planes and spy satellites to show several core senior officials of the US government the "grim situation" in northern Syria. These photos successfully convinced senior officials of the US government that the Syrian government is seeking nuclear weapons and North Korea "may be a partner". Therefore, the U.S. government has given the green light to Israel’s air strikes against Syria. In order to prevent Israeli F-15i fighters from accidentally injuring American warplanes in the Middle East, Washington handed over the U.S. Air Force code to the Israeli Air Force military attache in the United States.
The operation was carried out in super secrecy-only three people in Israel knew about the air strike plan-Prime Minister Olmert, Defense Minister Barak and Foreign Minister Levi. Because the operation was so secret, the pilots who participated in the operation didn’t get the orders they wanted to execute from the commander until the fighter plane took off!
After the air raid, Israel also prohibited anyone from revealing a word to the outside world. It was not until Syria revealed to the outside world that Israeli warplanes had "violated" its airspace that the outside world learned the clues of this action. According to the Syrian side, Israeli warplanes were intercepted by the Syrian air defence forces, forcing them to abandon the auxiliary fuel tank and flee back to Israel. However, many intelligence sources have confirmed that Israel’s air strikes have successfully destroyed Syria’s "nuclear weapons warehouse".
And the inside story: Israel took the nuclear device?
Because Israel is tight-lipped about this action, there is inevitably a lot of speculation about the final result of its action. It is reported that the air raid was actually to cover up the great success of Israeli commandos, who successfully stopped Syria’s nuclear weapons and equipment on the way to Iran and then shipped them back to Israel. The air raid was just a cover.
However, more channels have confirmed that Israel’s air strike was very successful and completely destroyed Syria’s nuclear facilities.
Some American intelligence officials believe that the evidence is insufficient.
After this incident was revealed by the mainstream western media, the relevant parties reacted strangely:
Syria, as a country concerned, has been slow to respond to the air strikes, and has not even complained to the UN Security Council about the violation of its airspace by Israeli warplanes, and even said that its target was bombed, which is "false".
North Korea’s official media severely condemned Israel’s invasion of Syrian airspace. According to the Sunday Times, North Korea paid little attention to Israel’s invasion of the airspace or territory of Middle East countries in the past, but this time it expressed "strong condemnation".
Israeli officials kept quiet about the operation, but internal sources revealed that the highest level in Israel was "ecstatic" about it and was secretly inviting awards for the officers and men who participated in the operation.
John bolton, the former US ambassador to the United Nations, said in an interview with the Jerusalem Post: "It is’ logical’ for North Korea and Iran to transfer nuclear weapons and equipment to a third country that is not suspected, such as Syria." However, some US intelligence officials believe that the so-called nuclear weapons cooperation between the DPRK and Syria is "insufficient evidence". For example, Albright, the former prosecutor of Iraq’s nuclear issue, said that the International Atomic Energy Agency had inspected Syria’s small nuclear reactors in 2003, and the results proved that the accusation that Syria was developing nuclear weapons was "incorrect".
In an interview with Newsweek, Mustafa, Syrian ambassador to the United States, said that after being intercepted by Syrian air defense forces, Israeli warplanes threw bombs into open desert and fled. Mustafa said that Syria will definitely retaliate against Israel at an appropriate time: "Israel cannot do whatever it wants without paying the price." (Zhongqing Online-Youth Reference Lei Huai)
Editor: Cao Jin
